Are you waiting for God to tell you the intricate details of what he’ll do and how things will unfold before you obey him?
It’s a very real question. Thankfully our passage today helps us with this very challenge of allowing anxiety about the future to stop us from doing God’s will.
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
(Hebrews 11:8)
With no clue whatsoever of the finer details of God’s plan Abraham obeyed.
Today I want to share 3 things that Abraham’s obedience by faith calls us to consider.
1. God will call you to go somewhere that looks like nowhere.
Abraham went out not knowing where he was going though he was a human being like us who must have cared about his future and must have been thinking of his family.
You would think when God is making a ‘big ask’ of someone he’d lay out the plan.
That very idea however shows a very wrong view of what it means to be called by God. For two reasons.
a. God’s calling us, is our privilege.
It’s a great blessing for God to call us to Himself — whether that’s the initial call to become Christians or the call he extends to us daily as believers to diligently seek him.
In Matthew 13 Jesus tells his disciples:
16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.17 For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
Those who see that, are willing and ready to act when God calls though God does not spell out the date, time, or location of how he will reward them.
b. God always calls his people to trust and obey.
God expects us to imitate Abraham — to say to his commands, “yes”, not “give me details and let me get back to you.”
Noah was warned by God of events “as yet unseen” and instructed to build an ark in a place with no water. He didn’t know he’d dock on Mount Ararat.
I have a song I’ll leave with you:
His time is not my time, His way is not my way Him a di same today as he was yesterday (He is the same today as he was yesterday) And if him coulda do it then (and if he could have done it then) Him can do it now (He can do it now) Mi nuh haffi know di way (I don’t have to know the way) Mi nuh haffi know di how (I don’t have to know the how) God never tell di three Hebrew boy about di fourth man Never tell Moses him would have to cross an ocean Joshua never know say di sun coulda stand still Samson never plan fi make a donkey jawbone kill None a dem di know about di help him woulda send dung Dat is my comfort anytime mi bring mi gift come Wondering how mi gonna live offa mi income God never fail, him nickname nuh Win-some
2. God will call you to do some things that look like nothing.
Faith — we see from Abraham’s obedience — is sometimes the conviction to act. It isn’t however about doing just anything we think makes sense.
The heartbreaking story of Abraham’s son Ishmael shows this. God promised Abraham, when he was still Abram, that he would give him an heir (Genesis 15:4), but instead of waiting on God, he went and got a son with Hagar, his wife’s slave (Genesis 16).
God called Abraham to live and wait for God to bless him. He didn’t call Abraham to bless himself. Even when Abraham begged God to establish the promise through Ishmael, God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac.” (Genesis 17:19).
What about us?
To many people, activity is the mark of a great Christian life. It’s the mark of obedience to God. So you are out organizing rallies, gathering signatures, and doing what they call ‘real things’.
You’re doing nothing, in their minds, when you spend time reading God’s word, praying and worshiping.
3. Faith is much more than we ‘think’.
Abraham obeyed, but look closely at Hebrews 11 and you will see, he wasn’t alone in this.
Certainly, Noah obeyed God by building the ark. “Noah did…all that God commanded him.” (Genesis 7:5)
Issac obeyed God, by living in Gerar instead of moving to Egypt during a famine. “Now there was a famine in the land…And the LORD appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you…“So Isaac settled in Gerar.” (Genesis 26:1-6)
Moses obeyed God by going to Pharaoh, though he didn’t want to. “Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the LORD commanded them.” (Exodus 7:6)
Look closely to see if you can find one person in Hebrews 11 whose faith was merely agreeing in their mind with a view about God without ever doing something (even if that something was to stand firm and let God work).
Many of us know what God requires of us but we want a guarantee of the results before we set out. We are saying we believe God rewards but that request says otherwise.
Next week
First, I have decided to publish on Fridays instead. When I started my aim was just to get going, so I think Tuesday was the closest possible day to start. Now that I am in a rhythm, I have a better sense of what’s doable.
Hebrews 11: 12 -16 | Strangers & Exiles - In the middle of Abraham’s story we have this 5 verse commentary. It’s point is worth considering on it’s own, so I have taken the unusual step of breaking the flow of how I present the verse.
Also remember
You only need to learn ONE verse a week. Learn the chorus and you’ve hit your goal.
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If you haven’t, check out last week’s post:
Here's an example of how to obey God though you have no idea what'll happen if you do